Find Yourself
by Agent Gibbs
Summary: Based on the Brad Paisley song. Tony doesn't show up for work, and the only things Team Gibbs has to go on are an e-mail Tony sent Ziva and the fact that Gibbs' sniper rifle is missing. What will happen? Find out. Tony/Ziva 'T' to be safe.
1. No Show DiNozzo

Tony was late for work, as usual. But today was different. He wasn't late because he didn't wake up in time. He was late because he wasn't going to work at all. Ziva, Gibbs & McGee were about to find out why.

"Can someone tell me where the HELL DiNozzo is?" Gibbs was angry, to say the least.

"Nobody has seen Tony all morning. I checked all of his before work hang-ins."

"Hang-OUTS," McGee corrected Ziva. "Boss, I could try tracking his cell phone."

"DO IT, McGEE!" Gibbs stormed off, presumably for coffee.

"Ziva, I would not wanna be Tony when Gibbs gets a hold of him."

Ziva wasn't listening. She just got a message from Tony. She opened it and this is what she read:

_"Hey, Ninja. I'm taking some time off in order to find myself. I don't know how long it's going to take. Tell McGee and whatever probie they assign you to stay out of my desk. I know we had a great weekend planned, but I'll make it up to you when I get back. I love you. P.S. Tell Gibbs I said thanks for the rifle. I'm gonna need it. :D"_

Ziva smiled and sent Tony a reply. "You are a dork."

"Ziva, when you and DiNozzo are done playing electronic grab-ass, do you mind telling me where he is?" Gibbs asked, walking back into the bullpen. "And tell him I want my damn rifle back."

"I do not know where he is. All he said was that he is going to take time off to 'find himself' and does not know when he will be back."

"McGee, any luck tracking DiNozzo's phone?"

"Uh, I tracked it to a campsite in West Virginia. Otherwise, nothing else," McGee answered.

"Ziva, let me see that e-mail DiNozzo sent you."

Ziva reluctantly put the e-mail on the plasma. She knew what was going to happen when Gibbs read the last bit. Bracing for the head-slap that didn't come, Ziva was afraid when Gibbs started laughing.

"So McGee's 'Probie' and you're 'Ninja.' Does DiNozzo give **everyone** nicknames?"

"No," McGee said.

Gibbs was looking at the e-mail. "Ziva."

"Yes?"

"This last part, before the P.S. If you two broke Rule 12-"

"No, Gibbs. Tony said a few weeks ago that he has had feelings for me since we met, but they got so strong after you three rescued me from Somalia that he had to fight to keep them hidden in front of everyone."

"So, for the last three years, you two have been meeting in secret, right?"

"No. It is nothing like that. I feel the same way for him, but we can not act on these feelings because of Rule-"

**"Forget it."**


	2. Three Weeks

_"When you Find Yourself in some far-off place, and it causes you to re-think some things, you start to sense that slowly you're becoming someone else. And then you Find Yourself."_

It had been three weeks. Tony was looking at the wilderness in front of him. He had allowed himself to grow a scraggly beard, sort of like the one Harrison Ford had in _The Fugitive_. He had time to think while he was out here. Mainly, he thought about Ziva, about how much he wanted to hold her in his arms.

He made a couple of friends in town, and he started to seriously think about his life.

_"When you make new friends in a brand-new town, and you start to think about settling down, the things that would have been lost on you are now clear as a bell. And you Find Yourself. Yeah, that's when you find yourself."_


	3. The Truth

**A/N: I tried NOT to sound like an ass when I wrote this Chapter. If it comes off like that, tough.**

Tony had come to a realization. He needed to be with Ziva. There was no way around it anymore. He had gone through his life so sure that he knew where he was going. He was wrong. His life hit a detour seven years ago. That detour's name was Ziva David. All the hell that they went through together seemed to verify Tony's train of thought.

And for better or worse, he thought, it was Kate's death that brought Ziva into his life.

"_Well, you go through life, so sure of where you're heading. And you wind up lost, and it's the best thing that could have happened. 'Cause sometimes when you lose your way, it's really just as well. Because you Find Yourself. Yeah, that's when you Find Yourself._"


	4. Ziva 'Finds' Tony

Tony went to sleep that night with peace of mind. He woke up a few hours later because he thought he heard someone yelling his name.

"TONY!" It was Ziva.

He was wondering how she found him when he remembered that he had his phone with him and that Gibbs probably had McGeek tracking it. He cursed himself for not leaving his phone in his car.

Ziva's yelling was getting louder, almost like it was right outside his tent. There was also a bear in front of his tent, and he didn't know until he heard Ziva's gun go off, so he grabbed the .308 he 'borrowed' from Gibbs and put a round through the bear's skull.

Ziva was still shooting the bear until Tony poked his head through the tent flap.

"Ziva, that bear's already dead. You can't kill him again." She turned her flashlight on him and saw that he was wearing that same stupid grin on his face.

"Hello, Tony." She shined the light in his beard. "What is that thing on your face?"

"You like it?"

"Maybe if it was shorter and did not have twigs, feathers, and dried animal blood in it."

"So, why're you here?"

"I had to get away from NCIS for awhile. I had McGee track your phone and that is how I found you."

The wind started to pick up. The bitter cold mountain air hit Ziva, and she pretty much knocked Tony over to get into his tent. Tony tried to kiss Ziva, but she stopped him.

"What?"

"Your beard, Tony. Shave it off first."

"Okay. Hand me that bag behind you."

Ziva handed him the bag, which contained scissors, a razor, shaving cream, a bottle of water, a mirror, and a tin cup.

"Light, please," Tony said. Ziva shined her flashlight on Tony and he started to get rid of his beard. The process took him about half an hour. Finally, he looked like the Tony that Ziva knew.

"Much better," she said. "So how long have you been here?"

"I've been moving from spot to spot for the last three weeks. I set up here five days ago. How long have you been looking for me?"

"I left three days ago. Gibbs was pissed."

"Well, he is stuck with McGee. I'd be upset too."

They both started laughing, and their eyes met. So did their lips. The feelings that they felt for each other had boiled over. Nothing could stop what was happening between them Tony loved the feel of Ziva's soft skin, and this thing that was nothing quickly became something.


	5. Back to DC

That weekend was, by far, the most enjoyable of the three that Tony had spent in the mountains of West Virginia. Going back to work was going to suck.

On Saturday, Tony woke Ziva up at about 0400 so that they could get an early start back to Washington.

"Hey, wake up."

Ziva was still groggy. "Why?"

"We have to get back to DC."

"Did you find yourself, Tony?"

"Oh, yeah."

"So who are you?"

"I'll tell you back in Washington. Now, up. We need to get going."

They had collapsed their camp by 0600, and by 0700, they were on the road back to DC.

They got to the Washington City Limits after about sixteen hours of non-stop driving, which was about 0100. Ziva was passed out against the passenger window, so Tony just let her sleep until he was parked out front of his apartment.

"Hey, sweetcheeks. Wake up." He knew shaking her awake was about as safe as throwing Gibbs' coffee in front of an Uzi, but he wasn't going to leave her in his car. So, he took her in his arms and carried her up to his apartment.

He opened the door to his apartment, and Ziva was starting to wake up. All she knew was that someone was carrying her into a dark room. She elbowed Tony in the gut and flipped him onto his back, while at the same time putting him in a headlock.

"Uncle! UNCLE!" Tony was about to pass out when Ziva let him go.

"Why did you not wake me up?"

"You were out like a light, Ziva. I know that trying to wake you up is about as safe as throwing a full cup of Gibbs' coffee in front of an Uzi, so I just carried you up here."

The coffee joke got a smile from her, and she allowed Tony to carry her to his room. After he put her on the bed, he went back to close the front door. When he got back to his room, he collapsed on his bed, until about 0445 Monday morning.

_"When you meet the one that you've been waiting for, and she's everything you want and more. You look at her and you finally start to live for someone else. And you Find Yourself. Yeah, that's when you Find Yourself."_


	6. How Things Change

When Tony and Ziva got to work on Monday, Gibbs was waiting.

"Welcome back, DiNozzo. Did you find yourself?" Gibbs sounded skeptical about the whole thing.

Tony put his hand on Ziva's shoulder. "Yep. I can safely say that I know myself now, boss. And your rifle is in my trunk."

"Well, that's good. So, if you two are gonna be doing this," Gibbs gestured to Tony and Ziva, "you better keep it out of the office." Double head-slap.

The day was uneventful, mainly because Director Vance had the team working on cold cases. Whenever they had a chance, Tony and Ziva were engaged in a game of what Gibbs called 'electronic grab-ass' until the day was over.

That night, Tony paid Ziva a visit, carrying 'The Godfather' and Chinese food. They stayed up half the night watching the movie and talking about the weekend. Needless to say, what happened was not a fluke.

_"Well, we go through life, so sure of where we're heading. And we wind up lost, and it's the best thing that could have happened. 'Cause sometimes when you lose your way, it's really just as well. Because you Find Yourself. Yeah, that's when you Find Yourself."_

They both knew what was going to happen. Their fates had been intertwined for the last seven years, and they both had the wrong ideas of where their lives were going to take them. Oh, how things change.


End file.
